Over the weekend, I got an invitation to join Ello. I’d heard about it previously after reading about it on my favourite tech blogs, but I always prefer to try something myself rather than simply believe what someone else is saying.

So anyway, I signed up for Ello. I managed to bag the username ‘adamowen’, which I was happy about (I was of course too late to get simply ‘adam’).

As soon as I logged in, I soon realised how basic the interface really is! Even more so than I’d expected. Now, whilst a basic UI backed by awesome features wouldn’t be a problem, it does seem that Ello is lacking in features. They do actually seem to have a features list, which has features in line with those of ‘competitors’ such as Twitter and Facebook.

Now, from my basic understanding of how venture capital works, I was under the impression that you had to have an exit strategy formed (i.e. a plan to sell the company for a profit) before you even pitched your idea to a VC.

However, in Ello’s case, I find it hard to see how this will work..

With many asking the same question, the founder of Ello; Paul Butnitz, recently had an interview with Business Insider, where he explained how he plans to keep costs to a minimum. They’ll also be selling Ello-branded merchandise such as t-shirts.

Whatever happens, Ello seems fixated on offering an ad-free social network, which isn’t a bad thing, but I guess we just have to wait and see if it’s goodbye for Ello.